Wednesday's Pick

Reverend Vince Anderson lets music do his preaching in "Get Out of My Way."
courtesy of Reverend Vince Anderson
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courtesy of Reverend Vince Anderson

Monday nights belong to the Reverend Vince Anderson in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Every week at Black Betty, one of the neighborhood bars, Anderson takes the stage at a little before midnight to sing some "dirty gospel" alongside his mighty Love Choir. He's a local favorite, and by the end of his first set, the dance floor is packed with frenzied hipsters who dance and shout in the band's impromptu church.

Anderson studied to be a Methodist minister at Union Theological Seminary in the early '90s — hence the "Reverend" in his name — but dropped out after one semester to pursue music full-time, trading the pulpit for the local barstool. Although he's now ordained, it's clear that Anderson still prefers to let his music do his preaching, as songs such as "Get Out of My Way" clearly reflect. "Jesus was a man / Was a man like any man / Sure, he was the Son of God / but still, He was just a man," Anderson bellows, name-dropping Job and Moses while transporting listeners to a time when '60s Motown and gospel reigned supreme.